Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Workers World Editorial: They Hate Truth

They — the Pentagon, the administration, the U.S. ruling class — fear and hate the truth. How else can you explain their passion for persecuting Pvt. Bradley Manning, who has already spent 570-plus days of his 24 years in military prisons, most of them isolated from any contact with his many friends and supporters, and most of that time in isolation that amounts to torture.

For six days in mid-December, Manning has been in an Article 32 hearing that will determine if he is to stand trial. He is accused of telling the truth, specifically of releasing the truth to the public. This particular truth includes the exposure of U.S. helicopters killing Iraqi civilians, reporters even, seen dramatically in a video made from a U.S. helicopter. This incident was one tiny part of the unspeakable war crimes the Bush administration, the Pentagon, indeed, the entire U.S. ruling class — what today we call the 1% — unleashed upon the Iraqi people.

During the hearing, Vietnam ­anti-war whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg was expelled for getting too close to Manning, and Iraq anti-war ­ex-lieutenant Dan Choi was wrestled to the ground. That’s further proof the Pentagon hates those who bear the truth.

In this case the truth is that the Pentagon, which has imprisoned Manning and is trying to put him on trial, is the real criminal — the war criminal. With the full backing of the U.S. ruling class, it has waged wars of aggression in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya based on lies intended to deceive the people, lies that the massive imperialist propaganda machinery — as powerful and well-financed as the Pentagon itself — has spread, repeated and spread again.

The government has up to now proven nothing against Manning. It has essentially tortured this courageous private. If he really did what they accuse him of, then he is a 21st-century cyber-hero, who has dug out the truth and offered it to the world. Now we must make the best use of it.